Reel for strip material



v r s v r w m a e 3, N 6 A n 5 Z W 2 m n r 0 w 2 2[ Wm 0M d Y B H FAGG ETAL REEL. FOR STRIP MATERIAL Filed June 13. 1949 Jan. 13, 1953 ing or quenching operations.

Patented Jan. 13, 1953 REEL FOR STRIP MATERIAL Howard Fagg and George Starrett, Riverside,

Calif., assignors to Hunter Douglas Corporation, Riverside, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application June 13, 1949, Serial No. 98,721

This invention relates to reels upon which strip material may be wound, particularly for use in the heat treatment of the strip material.

In the manufacture of long lengths of ribbonlike thin strip material, considerable diificulty is encountered in handling the strip material during the processing thereof by heat treatment. For example, in the manufacture of long lengths of narrow strip aluminum for uses such as in the manufacture of slats for Venetian blinds, it is frequently necessary to subject the strip material to a heat treatment for the purpose of annealing the material between rolling operations employed to roll the strip material to the desired thickness, or it may be necessary to heat the strip material after the final rolling operations.

The most efiicient way in which the material may be heat treated is to wind a relatively long length of the strip material upon a supporting reel and to place the reel with the strip material thereon in a furnace in which the strip material will be heated to some predetermined temperature, the strip material then being drawn or unwound from the reel for subjection to such cooling or quenching operations as may be required for the proper heat treatment of the particular material.

Where the particular strip material to be treated is of one composition and the reel is of a different composition, there is usually so much diiference in the coefficients of expansion of the two materials that the coiled strip material becomes loose on the reel and will not be properly supported during the drawing of the material from the reel. For example, in the treatment of the aluminum strip material noted above, it is necessary to heat the material to a temperature very close to the melting point of the aluminum or aluminum alloy from which the strip is made;

and, hence, it is necessary to support the material upon a reel which can readily stand many heatings to the desired temperature. To stand the relatively high heat and also to provide a material for the reel which will resist wear, the reel is preferably made of cast iron or cast steel. It is apparent, therefore, that the coefiicient of expansion of the aluminum material is so different from that of cast iron or cast steel that the internal diameter of the coil of strip material, when heated, greatly exceeds the external diameter of the reel and the coil becomes loose on the reel, interfering with the unreeling or drawing off of the strip material for the cool- Various expedients- 1 Claim. (Cl. 24278) have been attempted to provide a peripheral surface or rim for such reel, which rim will expand more nearly equal to the expansion of the coil of strip material and thus avoid looseness between the coil and the peripheral surface of the reel. Aluminum rims have been cast upon cast iron reels, but such structures have failed to achieve the desired result of maintaining sufficient tightness between the reel and the coil, since, even though the aluminum rim is shrunk onto the cast iron reel, the initial heating only relieves the pre-load of the shrunk aluminum rim and clearance rapidly develops between the rim and the interior of the coil.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art of handling strip material, the obvious expediency of employing side plates or fingers on the reel to engage the edges of the strip material cannot be used because of the danger of injury to the edges of the strip material by contact with such plates or fingers while the material is .hot. However, some'means must be employed to prevent the lateral shifting of the coiled strip material, at least'to-such extent as will prevent dislodgment of the coil from thereel.

We have discovered that by providing a crowned peripheral surface on the-rim of the reel, the strip material, when wound thereon, will be given a lateral crown and will provide on the interior of the coil a laterally concaved surface by which, even though the circumferential expansion of the coil is such as to make it loose upon the rim, the smaller diameter edges of the strip material will engage the larger diameter portion of the crowned rimand restrict or limit any harmful lateral movement between the coil and the reel.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a reel for the purpose set forth in which the peripheral surface of the reel is formed with a substantial crown providing a larger diameter in the center of such surface and a smaller diameter at the edges of said surface. I

Another object of this invention is to provide a reel of the character described wherein the reel may be made of the body of any suitable material selected to withstand the temperatures encountered and provided with a rim of a material either identical with or substantially identical with the material from which the strip is made to thereby constitute a rim having a coeflicient of expansion closely approaching the coefiicient of expansion of the strip material.

Other objects of this invention will be apparent from the following specification read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a diam'etric view showing some typical ste s in the heat treatment and rolling of strip material. such as aluminum;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a carrier adapted to supporta reel havin a coil of strip aluminum thereon as the material is passedthrou h a heat treatment furnace. such as is shown in Fi 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a reel whichv is. constructed in accor ance with the present invention and upon which strip aluminum may be adeouatelv supported during t e heat treatment ste s of the process of manufacture: and

Fi 4 is a vertical sectional view'through' the reel shown in Fig. 3 and illustrating the manner in which the rowned surface of the rim of the reel acts with the strip material to laterallybendthe;

strip material and prevent dislodgment of. the. coil of strip material from the reel.

Referring to t e drawing, there is illustrated in Fi I a typical series of ste s or stations of operations upon-a strip material, such asaluminunr strip, which includes a heat treatment furnace A in which the stri material isheated toa predetermined temperature for the purpose of annealing the strip material after it has been initially rolled-to such extent as-reouires annealing before subsequent rolling steps ma be perform'ed to produce the finished strip ma erial.

At B is re resented a typical quenching tank for quenching the heated" strip material as the strip is drawn off of the reel and out" of the furnace-A.

C represents a rollin mill which may be employed to perform additional rolling operations upon the strip to finish the strip to the des red thickness; whereupon it may be rolled up into a suitable coil such as is indicated at D.

As willbe apparent to those skilled in the art of handling strip material. the most efficient manner in which the material may be heated to the desired tem erature is while the strip material is coiledupon itselfi'nto a coil of relatively great length so that the furnace dimensions for accommodating a long length ofthe strip material mav be relatively small. However. when the strip material is to be removed from the furnace for quenching; the most efficient method of handling the strip material is to merely draw the strip off of the reel by unwinding the coil and passing'the strip l to the quenching tank B, whereupon the strip may immediately pass as a thin ribbon to the rolling. mill for the finishing rolling operations;

'I o.supports; coil of the strip material in the furnace A, the strip I is preferably wound upon a suitable reel, indicated generally at 2, which, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, is constructed as a wheel of cast iron or steel, indicated at 3, preferably having a hub portion 4 connected by spokes 5 to an auxiliary rim 5. The periphery of the reel 2 is preferably formed of a material substantially the same in character as the aluminum or aluminum alloy of. which the strip is made, such periphery being formed by a rim 1 of aluminum or aluminum alloy cast upon the auxiliary rim 6.

The auxiliary rim 6 has upon its outer surface a groove or channel 8 extending circumferentially about the auxiliary rim 6 and into which a portion ofv the aluminum material of the rim I is seatedwhen the rim 1 is cast upon the auxiliary rim '6 so that, even though there may be a considerable difference in the coefficients-of expansion of the reel 1 and the auxiliary rim 6, there will be no lateral displacement permitted between the auxiliary rim 6 and the rim I.

The peripheral surface of the rim 1' is formed with a substantial crown or convex curvature so as to present a convex surface to the innermost convolutions of the strip I wound upon the reel. Thus, even though therem'ay be a considerable difference in the magnitude of expansion between the rim and the interior convolutions of the strip I, any lateral shifting of the coils or convolutions of the strip relative to the reel rim or relative to each other would merely bring small diametcr-portionsof. the coils or convolutions into engagement with each other, and the tendency for the coil to become displaced laterally is checked.

The. reel with its coil of strip material may be supported in the furnace A by any suitable means, such as inserting a shaft, not shown, through the central opening 9 of the reel hub and suspending the. reel and coilv in arack or carrier, indicated generally at, I9. The rack H} may be constructed of a pair of plates H and I2 having foot members l3 and i4, insuring. that the rack will remain: erect when standing on the foot members. The plates H and I2 are spaced from each other by a distance somewhat in excess of the width of the strip material to be treated so as not to engage the edges of the strip material while thematerial is being unwound or drawn from the reel. EJuitable bearings l5 and "5 may be provided-to-engage the shaft to minimize the resistance to the unreeling operation.

As pointed out hereinbefore, it is undesirable that the reel be provided with side plates or fingers which might ngage the edges of the strip material, but it is an important consideration for the sake of compactness to limit the width of the rim l toapproximately the width of the strip material to be handled, the important dimension being thatthewidthof the rim should be slightly in excess of the width of the strip materiahplus theamount of lateral. shifting permitted by the curvature ofv the crown of the rim.

While theexact dimensions of. the crown given tothe rim 1. is not critical, it should be kept in mind that it is undesirable to permanently distort the strip material from a relatively flat shape; and, hence, the amount of curvature in the crown of the rim should be well within those limits. Areel for handling aluminum or aluminum alloy strips of approximately .01 inch in thickness and approximately 2 inches in width may be satisfactorily madewith a crown in which the maximum diameter atthe center exceeds the diameter of theedgesby T; of aninch thereof; a crown radius ranging between 12 inches and 20 inches has been found to be satisfactory. In any event, the amount of crown should be such that the larger diameter at the central portion of the rim surface should exceed the diameter at the edges of the surface by an amount at least equal to the difference between the calculated expansion of the inner diameter of the coil of strip material and the calculated expansion in diameter of the reel rim surface so that there will never exist a condition in which the small diameter edge portions of the coiled strip can be greater than the largest diameter of the central portion of the rim surface.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that a satisfactory reel for heat treatment purposes may be readily manufactured from cast iron or cast steel; and, while it is preferred to employ thereon a rim material approaching closely to the composition of the material of the strip, the mere provision of a crowned surface on the reel may be entirely satisfactory without providing that the rim of the reel be different from the composition of the body of the reel. However, it is preferred and is found more satisfactory to provide a rim having a composition as nearly identical as is practical to the composition of the strip material.

While We have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we do not desire to be limited to any of the details illustrated or described, except as defined in the appended claim.

We claim:

A reel for use in supporting a coil of strip aluminum alloy during heat treatment thereof, said reel comprising a wheel of cast iron, which retains substantially full strength and hardness at temperatures up to the melting point of aluminum, and a crowned rim of aluminum alloy REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 877,979 Barry Feb. 4, 1908 1,769,928 Lindenberg July 8, 1930 2.470235 Burrell May 17, 1949 

